Kevin Gleason happy with learning process

Kevin Gleason will start from the front row alongside WestCoast Racing team-mate Gianni Morbidelli. The American praised his fellow Honda driver’s performance, stating he couldn’t have done better than him.

I have to congratulate with Gianni, because although I feel I still had some margin I’m sure I could not have done what he managed to do, so hats off to him,” admitted Gleason. “I am very happy because the team worked really hard to help me improve the car and the setup. It was not easy because I had never been here before and it was a learning process, which ended up very well anyway.”

The American says that fitting new tyres in Q1 allowed him to learn more about the limits of the Civic, which turned out to be crucial in the second segment: “I am very happy with the way we worked as a team, and even more because I was able to improve just at the right moment. To be honest, I was a bit far back earlier today, but as I started lapping with new tyres in Q1 I understood the limits of the car and the levels of grip available. That turned out to be positive as I was able to extract much more from my Honda and clocked a very good lap time. I am happy and hopefully we will have a good result tomorrow.”

Gleason took pole position and a win last time the TCR International Series visited Austria, in Salzburg.